YOU are The Holy Grail By, Libby Adams, Ph.D.

What more common theme is there in trading than people looking for the Holy Grail? How many times do we hear these remarks from traders: “If I could JUST find the right system.” “If the market would just stop going sideways.”  “If I could just get the right entry.”

The market goes up—some people are making money while others are losing money.

The market goes down—some people are making money while others are losing money.

How do we explain the discrepancy in results? The market is the market.  How does one person make money while another is on the other end of the trade, losing money? Same market.  Same day.

Or how about this one: Two people are at the same workshop; they learn the exact same system and buy the same software.  One goes out and makes money, and the other loses.

What is the only variable in all of these examples? The individual.

We can’t expect the market to behave a certain way, but we can expect YOU to behave a certain way.  The only variable is YOU.

But the definition of “you” is not as clear as some might think.   Let me explain.   Most people have some awareness of a variety of “yous” that are talking in their head.  Perhaps we could call them “me, myself, and I.”  Let’s examine these three more closely.

I. The “Big I” (The Scout Up in the Crow’s Nest)

In our “me, myself, and I” equation, this would be the “I”.    We could say that when it leaves your body, you’d be considered dead.  One of my 28-day course graduates, who was an ER doctor, told a story of a woman who had flatlined on the table.  When she came to, she was recounting details of what the doctors and nurses had been doing in their attempt to revive her.  The doctor said there was no way these things could have been seen from any vantage point other than floating above the scene.

Many people refer to this “I” as their Soul, Spirit, Higher Self, or Conscience.  It is a power source that is invisible and undeniably powerful.   An example of how this “I” operates is when we say, “I am happy to return this wallet to the lost and found.”  Or “I know that Fred was being rude, but I am going to be the bigger person.”  This “I” always takes you along the path of the high road.

If we were to use a ship metaphor, this “I” would be like a scout up in the crow’s nest of a ship who has a broad vantage point and can then communicate his observations to the captain below.  This “bird’s eye view” assists the Captain to make good decisions that generate desired results.  The ship steers a good course, as opposed to ending up on the rocks.

II. The Conscious Mind or “regular I” (The Captain of the Ship)

In our triad of “me, myself, and I” this would constitute the “me” aspect.  We refer to this as your conscious mind.  It uses logic and analysis to make choices and has free will.  It might be what you call the captain of the ship.  You make decisions such as “Should I trade the S&P or do I prefer the Russell.”  Your conscious mind is your “decider.”  You use this aspect a LOT in trading.

III. The little “i” (Some Members of the Crew Having a Mutiny)

This is the “myself” portion of our “me, myself and I” equation.   I write it as “my self”, separating the words. This “separated self” or little “i” is actually a program that has separated from the Big I during our formative years as a result of believing faulty and erroneous information.  This misinformation might have come from the outside when a parent remarked, “You’ll never amount to anything” and you believed it.  From that time forward, this person might not try out for the school play or go out for track thinking” I won’t make it anyway, so why try?”

Another source of faulty information has its origin in our own self-talk:  things we tell ourselves.  For example, when we volunteered a wrong answer in school and the teacher loudly proclaimed that our answer was way off track, we might have thought “How could I be so stupid?” and decided never to participate in school again.

These programs continue to fire off unconsciously until we do our inner work.  That is exactly why Van’s curriculum includes so much education about trading psychology. Traders need to know how to discern which “I” is pulling the trigger when they trade and what to do if the wrong one is running the show!!

The Holy Grail, then, is trading with the scout and the captain in alignment—that is, the “I and me” in agreement.  In our ship metaphor, this translates to the scout shouting down sound information from the crow’s nest followed by the captain making good decisions based upon it.  That IS the Holy Grail.  You need to look no further than within.

The catch is that we must clear out and rid ourselves of the little “i”s steering us into the rocks. It is not useful to hear thoughts like, “What if this is another loser like the last two?” and then miss an opportunity by not taking the trade.